1. FC Kaiserslautern

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FC Kaiserslautern have won 4 German Championships. 1950/51, 1952/53, 1990/91 and most recently 1997/98 (as a newly promoted side).

They have also won the DFB-Pokal 2 times in 1989/90 and 1995/96 and the DFL-Supercup in 1991.

Performances in European competition aren’t too bad either, this includes reaching the Champions League Quarter Finals in 1998/99 where they succumbed to a 6-0 aggregate defeat to eventual losing finalists Bayern Munich.
They went one round better in the UEFA Cup, reaching the Semi-Final stage twice in 1981/82 and 2000/01.

Around this time Kaiserslautern found itself on the brink of bankruptcy due to bad management and the need of construction work for the Fritz-Walter-Stadium to be a 2006 World Cup venue.

Only with the clubs new president Rene C. Jäggi selling the stadium were Kaiserslautern able to continue.

2005-06 saw them relegated to Bundesliga 2 after a 9 year stay in the top flight.
6th, 13th and 7th followed before 2009/10 in which the team finished 1st earning promotion back to the top flight.

It was soon forgotten about because they were relegated again in 2011/12, finishing bottom with just 4 wins from 34 games.
2012/13 ended in 3rd position and a chance for promotion, but a 5-2 aggregrate defeat in the promotion play-off against Hoffenhiem brought them back down to earth.
Nothing was achieved by two promising 4th place finishes, then 10th and 13th in 2016/17.

Not only did they spend most of the season at the bottom of the table. But, in a match against Darmstadt in January 2018 manager Jeff Strasser suffered a heart attack and was rushed to hospital at half time.The match was subsequently abandoned.

A week after the incident Michael Frontzeck was handed the task of keeping them up.
They managed 4 wins and two draws under his management but it wasn’t enough.

90 percent of the players in the Kaiserslautern squad did not have contracts for Germany's third league, this meant they could depart the club with little to no transfer compensation.

Kaiserslautern forecasted a €24 million reduction in turnover and expected to have just a €5 million budget.

Michael Frontzeck appointed in February 2018 would stay on as manager, he was the man responsible for guiding Kaiserslautern back up the first time of asking.

The statement of intent was there as Kaiserslautern brought in Timmy Thiele for €379,568 from fellow third division side Carl Zeiss Jena. This was the 4th highest transfer ever in the 3rd division. He scored 25 goals in 53 appearances.

A total of 23 players left the club in the summer of 2018, all free transfers.
Some of the most notably where that of striker Sebastian Andersson to Union Berlin who signed for €657,236 just 10 months prior and Brandon Borrello to Freiburg signed from Australian club Brisbane roar for €151,653.

subpop- Thanks . German football is very interesting at the moment with Koln and Hamburg both relegated to the 2nd division. I had to choose Kaiserslautern mainly because of the dramatic decline they have been on recently. They have a stadium capacity of nearly 50,000 but struggle to fill even half of that

A week after being thrashed in the DFB, Kaiserslautern had a big game against Karlsruher who lost in the promotion play-offs the previous year. Not a bad result.

Matchday 6. A 1-1 D

Struggling against lesser sides. Conceding a 92nd minute penalty was a real kick in the teeth for Frontzeck's men.

Matchday 7. H 3-3 D

A bit of a break before this one. 2-0 down after half an hour, it was looking like another home loss. Managed to draw level at half-time before a late goal put the home side 3-2 up. That wasn't the end, another injury time goal and Kaiserslautern drop points again.

Matchday 8. A 3-3 D

3 goals conceded again! Kaiserslautern went 3-2 up on 88 minutes, but for the 3rd game in a row they slip up in injury time.

Matchday 9. A 1-4 W

17,000 spectators for the game between the two relegated sides. Level at half time before a fantastic performance in the 2nd half gave Kaiserslautern their first win in four. Braunschweig drop down to 19th.

Matchday 10. H 2-1 W

Just their 2nd home win of the season and finally managed to beat a team they where expected to.

Bitburger Verbandspokal Südwest - *bit of a mouthful* we will call it the Regional Cup

4th round3rd October SC Idar-Oberstein (5th tier) 0-7 Kaiserslautern

Matchday 11. A 2-0 L

A very tough away fixture to start October. Just 1 defeat in 10 games for Osnabrück and they made it 11 in a tightly contested affair. They went 1-0 up after 60 minutes and another 90+ minute goal sealed the win for the home side.

Matchday 12. H 2-0 W

Kaiserslautern moved up to 9th position with a fantastic result against 3rd place Uerdingen.
Bitburger Verbandspokal Südwest (Regional Cup)

R16
FK Pirmasens (4th tier) which proved a harder task than the previous cup fixture but onto the next round.

Matchday 13. A 1-2 W

The last game of October ended in a win for the away side who came from a goal behind. Results went Kaiserslautern's way, moving them up to 7th just 2 points off the promotion play-off spot.

A bad start to the 2nd half damaged the confidence of the players. On 76 minutes Energie Cottbus struck again sealing the 3 points and another very disappointing home defeat.

10/11 Matchday 15. A 4-1 L

Despite the bad result the previous week Kaiserslautern had the chance to close in on the top 3 against 6th place. 6 minutes in they went ahead with a header, it wasn't long until the home side levelled it up 1-1. Then 2 goals in 2 minutes 35' and 36', Hansa were already out of sight before the break. Just 10 minutes from time they made it 4-1 and moved up to 4th extending the gap to 5 points over 9th place Kaiserslautern.

14/11 Bitburger Verbandspokal Südwest (Regional Cup)

QF
TSV Gau-Odernheim (6th tier) This came at a good time. It meant that the team were able to get some confidence up moving into last November.

25/11 Matchday 16. H 0-0 D

2 defeats in November and another tough fixture against the team 1 place above them in the standings. It was a tight affair which ended in a stalemate.

30/11 Matchday 17. A 5-0 L

Unterhaching lost just once all season, they had the knack of getting back into games when all was lost. They certainly didn't need that in this game. It took them just half an hour to be 2-0 up against a lost side in Kaiserslautern. It wasn't until the 65 minute when they made it 3-0, then 4-0 71' and 6 minutes from time 5-0.

It looks like the team was not able to keep the good run of results. The team receive too many goals and this is a problem. I'm not familiar with the Bundesliga 3. How many teams go into the playoffs? Things don't look very well...

It looks like the team was not able to keep the good run of results. The team receive too many goals and this is a problem. I'm not familiar with the Bundesliga 3. How many teams go into the playoffs? Things don't look very well...

It's just like the Bundesliga 2 play-off. 3rd in B3 Will play 16th in B2.

A local German consortium named STEIp have purchased a 49% stake of 1.FC Kaiserslautern.
They are in advanced talks to buy the Fritz-Walter-Stadion and nearby land in a hope to revitalise the club and take it back to where it once was.

They released a statement on the club’s website:

“We are delighted to have finally got this deal through. We were in talks since the end of last season but for several reasons it didn’t happen. Our main objective is to get this club back to where it belongs. We will be assessing all staff in the coming days and make any decision that is necessary to get this club moving in the right direction.”